Relapsed Wegener's granulomatosis after rituximab therapy--B cells are present in new pathological lesions despite persistent 'depletion' of peripheral blood

Alastair Ferraro, SW Smith, D Neil, Caroline Savage

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

39 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) is a chronic, relapsing, systemic autoimmune disease. Rituximab, a monoclonal antibody against human CD20, has shown promise as a novel treatment for WG. The monitoring of therapeutic B-cell 'depletion' by peripheral blood flow cytometry has been proposed to help monitor rituximab therapy. We report the case of a patient with known WG and granulomatous disease, successfully treated with rituximab, who relapsed whilst peripheral blood monitoring apparently indicated persistent B-cell depletion. Further investigations demonstrated CD20(+) B cells in tissue at sites of active disease. The implications for disease pathogenesis and clinical monitoring of disease are discussed.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3030-2
Number of pages3
JournalNephrology, Dialysis, Transplantation
Volume23
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2008

Keywords

  • monitoring
  • rituximab
  • vasculitis
  • B-cell depletion

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